By Staff Writer
In a move to encourage mobile subscribers to ditch Vodacom and MTN, Cell C is giving customers of its rivals up to R10, 000 to help them buy themselves out of their contract should they want to move to Cell C but still have an outstanding value to settle before they can cancel.
On Wednesday Cell C also reported a 44% rise in data traffic on it’s network , with data revenues up 59% in the first quarter of 2014 versus the same period in 2014.
South Africa’s third mobile phone operator said that contract and TopUp customers can qualify for an amount of between R1, 000 and R10, 000, plus a new handset, if they sign up for one of the seven new Cell C’s EPIC plans.
“So many South Africans are feeling trapped in long-term contracts by their providers that ask for extortionary cancellation fees for early termination. Cell C’s Contract Buy-Out proposition releases customers from those fees by offering to help buy themselves out of their existing contracts,” says Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos.
The new EPIC products, ranging from R69 per month through to the unlimited package at R999 per month, are all based on flexibility of value, allowing customers to decide whether to spend their contract value on voice, data or SMS. These new packages offer an average discount of 30% on the subscription fees. For Example, pay R129 per month and receive R200 value to use as you please on EPIC 200.
“We understand that carriers must recoup costs for the handset when customers leave before a contract comes to an end, but charging any percentage of the remaining contract subscription as a termination fee is ludicrous. Some of our competitors are charging exorbitant amounts disguised as ‘reasonable early termination fees’ to customers who wish to end their contracts before the contract term,” says Dos Santos.
Cell C is also guaranteeing that customers signing up for the EPIC Contract packages will not be subject to any price increases for the duration of the contract.
Below is a table with the EPIC package SIM only details and contract buy-out values. EPIC deals will be available on a range of handsets for customers to choose from.
| PACKAGE (Postpaid and Hybrid) | EPIC 100 | EPIC 150 | EPIC 200 | EPIC 350 | EPIC 500 | EPIC 650 | EPIC 1000 | EPIC INFINITY |
| MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION (SIM only Fee) | R 69 | R 99 | R 129 | R 229 | R 339 | R 449 | R 699 | R 999 |
| Buy-out Value Postpaid | R 1 000 | R 2 500 | R 4 000 | R 6 000 | R10 000 | R 10 000 | ||
| Buy-out Value Hybrid | R4 000 | R6 000 | R10 000 | N/A | ||||
| INCLUSIVE AIRTIME | R 100 | R 150 | R 200 | R 350 | R 500 | R 650 | R 1 000 | *Unlimited Calls, SMSs and 3GB Data |
*Sign-up today and get 7GB additional data for 4 months.
Buy-Out promotion ends 30 September 2015.
